As is well known the deterioration or wasting away of an article in the form of a bar of soap in a soap holder is a common occurrence due to the soap resting in a partial reservoir of residual water (being drainage from the soap or environmental water spray) that causes a portion of the bar of soap to become very soft, pasty, and to waste or erode away easily at the bar of soap's next use. Thus, not only does the soap bar need to be initially elevated above the residual water to help prevent partial wasting away of the soap bar, there needs to be an accommodation for the reduction in soap bar size such that as the bar of soap reduces in size due to usage it still retains a four point peripheral support elevated above the residual water to continue to prevent wasting away of the bar of soap via residual water. Another challenge is that there is no standardization of soap bar shapes, some are round, some are oval, some are arcuate in shape, some are rectangular, and some are square, basically resulting in a number of derivations from a basic parallelepiped shape, i.e. such as in IVORY soap bars being square edged and rectangular in shape. Another issue is in the residual water that needs to be contained in a reservoir so as not to run all over the countertop, shelf, or whatever surface that the support for the soap is placed on.
In the prior art, most bar of soap holders are of a dish type shape having a relatively flat support surface with some sort of drainage channels within the support surface for residual water removal, wherein a typical problem is that the drainage channels clog up with soap paste (as the channels tend to be quite small) thus significantly reducing the ability of the residual water to drain, causing the portion of the soap bar to be immersed in the residual water that facilitates the wasting of a portion of the bar of soap.
In looking at the prior art in this area, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,661 to Geary, disclosed is a soap holder that has a “V” shaped one-way inclined soap bar support surface, with a gate type edge to keep the soap bar from sliding down the incline. However, in Geary the residual water merely runs off of the incline surface onto the surface that the soap holder is placed upon (having no reservoir), thus only making the Geary soap holder suitable for the side of a bathtub, such that the residual water runoff drains back into the bathtub itself.
Next, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 1,479,361 to Blevens, disclosed is a soap dish that has a flat support surface with multiple shallow drainage channels within the support surface for residual water removal wherein the channels drain to a central channel that drains to a reservoir on one side of the soap dish. In Blevens, the weight of the bar of soap will cause it to literally melt into the shallow channels causing the channels to plug up with soft pasty soap material thus resulting in the lower portion of the soap bar to waste away from being submerged in the residual water.
Further, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,104 to Andrews disclosed is a soap holder that being somewhat similar to Blevens wherein Andrews has narrow transverse support beams 14 that are positioned flat as against the bottom of the soap bar that are perpendicular to a somewhat larger main residual water drain channel, however, the beams 14 having a small support area on the bottom of the bar of soap that would tend to “cut” into the soap bar due to the weight of the soap bar and the soft nature of the soap bar material, as being an effect of the narrow beams 14 supporting the bar of soap, see FIGS. 1 to 4.
Continuing, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,042 to Ash, Sr., disclosed is a bar soap receptacle that is essentially like Andrews, with Ash having the narrow beam support, however, being on a steep incline with one end of the narrow beams having a perpendicular extension to hold the bar of soap in place, thus having the same problems as Andrews with the narrow beams cutting into the soft soap bar material allowing the bar of soap to rest directly on the flat surface, thus facilitating the bottom of the soap bar being wet with residual water causing soap bar material to waste away. Further, for the residual water drainage like Geary, Ash has the residual water draining into the bathtub directly (having no reservoir), thus only making the Ash soap holder suitable for the side of a bathtub, such that the residual water runoff drains back into the bathtub itself.
Further, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 2,026,288 to Swift disclosed is a soap dish that has a slightly inclined flat surface with several narrow protruding ridges to slightly elevate the bar of soap for drainage as between the ridges, however, the ridges could easily cut into the bar of soap that is soft and pasty thus allowing the bottom of the bar of soap to rest on the flat surface and again meaning that the bottom of the soap bar is trapped in residual water on the flat surface thus causing more wasting away of the soap bar, being similar to Ash and Andrews for having small area soap bar support which tends to allow the soft pasty soap material to sink downward into the residual water.
Further, in the prior art in U.S. Pat. No. 349,890 to Laxton, disclosed is a soap dish that is similar to Swift in that Laxton has a series of narrow ridges that support the bar of soap wherein the ridges are to slightly elevate the bar of soap for drainage as between the ridges, however, the ridges could easily cut into the bar of soap that is soft and pasty thus allowing the bottom of the bar of soap to rest directly on the drain opening, effectively plugging the drain openings again meaning that the bottom of the soap bar is trapped in residual water thus causing more wasting away of the soap bar. Further, Laxton only drains the residual water onto the surface that the soap dish is placed on like Geary, thus only making the Laxton soap holder suitable for the side of a bathtub, such that the residual water runoff drains back into the bathtub itself (i.e. Laxton having no residual water reservoir).
What is needed is a single piece soap bar support which supports the soap on a portion of the soap bar outer periphery consistently utilizing a larger surface area of support as against the bar of soap, further reducing the effect of the bar of soap “sinking” due to a small surface area of support that embeds into the soft soap material from the residual water dampened soap material, as from a typical soap bar holder. Also, as the bar of soap reduces in size with use, keeping the bar of soap elevated over the residual water as the bar of soap reduces in size, thus keeping the residual water drainage away from the soap bar freely flowing whether the bar of soap is large or small. Further a reservoir would be needed to hold the residual water such that the countertop, shelf, or other surface is isolated from the residual water that drains from the bar of soap.